Dernini S.,Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations | Meybeck A.,Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations | Burlingame B.,Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations | Gitz V.,Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations | And 4 more authors.New Medit | Year: 2013

The concept of sustainable diets has been proposed to characterize dietary patterns and assess their sustainability in different agro-ecological zones. This paper describes the work conducted since 2010 to develop a methodological approach to be used for assessing the sustainability of dietary patterns. It identifies four main areas to be considered and provides a first list of indicators or families of indicators to be used and tested. The Mediterranean diet, scientifically well-characterized as a healthy dietary pattern, appreciated for its lower environmental impact and acknowledged as a cultural heritage, is used here as a model to assess sustainability of diets and food consumption patterns in the Mediterranean area. The methodological approach described here will be further refined and tested to be used to assess sustainability of diets and food consumption patterns in different contexts.
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